Thursday, February 16, 2006

Research firm predicts the digital wallet will be a reality in the United States by 2007.

In the report, Schatt predicts that the mobile commerce market in 2006 will be worth $24 billion, with Japan and South Korea accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total.

In 2008, that figure is expected to more than double to $55 billion. And with four out of five Americans subscribing to mobile service by then, the United States will take a larger share.

Driving the trend is the growing number of so-called 3G handsets, which carry more data. The number of 3G phones in the United States has finally topped 50 million, creating what Celent calls “critical mass.”

Also worth quoting: "The rise of mobile commerce represents a large opportunity for banks and carriers to either exploit or miss, Mr. Schatt said. If banks cede ground to upstarts like Google on mobile transactions, the forfeited profits could be huge."